


Not Now, But Not Never

by RunningRiver



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Jacques needs to rot in jail, Minor Whiterose, Prison break time, schneewood forest - Freeform, winter defect please
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-18 20:49:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29863875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RunningRiver/pseuds/RunningRiver
Summary: Winter Schnee has spent her life doing what she thought was best. But now that she's under fire for doing the right thing, where will she go?alternate title: Winter gets thrown in jail for saving children and we finally get Winter and Robyn interactions
Relationships: Robyn Hill/Winter Schnee, Winter Schnee & everyone
Comments: 3
Kudos: 47





	Not Now, But Not Never

**Author's Note:**

> Just in time for us to get destroyed by an episode tomorrow, here's some hopes (?) for what happens to Winter after Ironwood decides to make horrible decisions.

“Would you be saying the same thing if your sister was in there? Are you gonna tell her what you did to her friends?”

Winter had been running Marrow’s words over in her mind. Would she deliver the bomb if Weiss or Whitley was inside? Would she be able to stand the look on her sisters face if her friends didn’t make it out?

There was no way of knowing. So Winter Schnee did what she knew best. She did what she was supposed to do.

“Yes, Marrow. Because it’s my duty.”

I’m doing the right thing. We’ll be saving thousands of lives. I’m going to do this. I have to do this.

Lies, all of it. Winter hated every thought in her head, every lie she had told herself to get to this point. When had it all gone so wrong?

Winter knew Robyn would hate it too.

That was strange. Why was she thinking about the would-be council-woman now? They had barely talked during her time at Schnee manor, and Winter’s knowledge of her was limited to her name and her semblance. So…

“Why now?” Winter muttered out loud.

“Operative Schnee?” Oh, It was that pink-haired girl from team FNKY. “The other Ace Ops wanted me to ask if it was time to unload the bomb.”

Right. The bomb. “Yes, please tell them to report here to prepare for walking the bomb to the target.”

“Yes, ma’am”

___________

That wasn’t us.

It was all Winter could think about as the Ace Ops walked to Ironwood’s office. Something stronger than the entire atlas military, maybe even stronger than the intact bomb sitting on the airship they had just dismounted, had destroyed Salem’s creature.

And they had no idea who it was.

It was all Winter could say when they arrived.

“Actually, that wasn’t us, Sir.”

And she watched the General’s shocked expression turn to one of pure malice. A face she’d only ever seen on enemies, her father among them. 

And when he laid out his plan, she felt that familiar sense of fear that kept her rooted in place.

Winter had stood for so many things. When she was told that she would take the power of the Winter Maiden, she convinced herself it was for the best. She would be able to protect people.

When Atlas planned to leave Mantle behind, she convinced herself they would be okay. Atlas was Salem’s main target, after all. They needed to protect whoever they could, and she was prepared to do that. 

Even when those kids had gone into Salem’s Whale, she had been able to ignore the ache of guilt in her chest. They were trying to save their friend. They had a chance of success. Even if they didn’t make it out, she had tried. Tried to help. Do the best she could.

But this? Arguably the most powerful army in remnant, being used not for protecting civilians, but for threatening them. Its general, using a handful of children as bait. No, she wouldn’t stand for this any longer. 

“I wish I had thought of it sooner.”

Winter wanted to scream. Wanted to punch Ironwood in his smug face and run as far as she could, maybe even try to find her family.

She had done that once, hadn’t she? A bitter memory surfaced, of finally leaving. Except that time, leaving the person she most hated also meant leaving her family. 

She didn’t have that this time. Why hadn’t she left sooner?

“Operative Schnee let them go.”

Harriet’s words caused a storm in Winter’s mind. Schnee, that name she hated so much. The name she had distanced herself from, but would never be able to leave behind. And with the hate, came fear.

“What?”

The fear, replaced with terror. She had seen how Qrow and Robyn were treated after their arrest. Thrown in a cramped cell without windows, not so much as a whisper of a fair trial. How much worse would it be for her, for committing what could be considered mutiny?

She didn’t have even a second to think before she heard the dreaded words spoken to the soldiers at the door.

“Arrest operative Schnee, on a count of betraying the city of Atlas.”

“No!” 

She barely got the word out before one guard grabbed her from behind, and the other brought out a set of handcuffs.

“Put her in the cell next to Jacques Schnee.” Ironwood shot her a look that made her feel lucky she hadn’t been shot as soon as the truth was revealed. “Traitors all belong in the same place”

Traitor.

Was that really what she had become? If anyone was the traitor here, it was Ironwood. He had left mantle, he was prepared to use children as leverage against other children. 

“No,” she hissed, this time in defiance. 

“Miss Schnee, please cooperate so that we can bring you to your cell,” the guard in front of her said.

“Get your hands off me!” She spat, vowing that she would not go quietly.

Except she didn’t have the option, when without a seconds delay the guard brought their gun to her face, knocking her out cold.

____________

Winter woke up to piercing bluish-green light burning across her corneas. There was only one place she could be.

The atlas academy prison cells.

“Oh, so you are awake.”

The voice, practically dripping with venom, made everything come rushing back. Ironwood’s plan, his ordering her arrest. The danger Winter’s sister and her friends were in, along with all of Mantle.

She drew the strength to face the voice, wearing the mask of calm and unfazed she had worn for so many years.

“Hello, Jacques.”

Or should I say, Jacque-ass.

“It’s disrespectful to call parents by their informal names.”

“You really think I care? Though, if you want to talk about being disrespectful, technically I rank higher than you. You should be addressing me as Operative Winter.”

Jacques snorted. “You’re still trying to distance yourself from the Schnee name, aren’t you? Too afraid you’ll end up like me?”

Winter spun, looking Jacques straight in the eyes. “I am nothing like you,” she hissed. “Besides, you stole that name. Nothing I do is because of you.”

“Oh, really? Is that why you’ve been dyeing your hair since you were 8? You couldn’t even bear to look the slightest bit like me, always wishing you had the white hair your siblings had.” Jacques laughed, an empty, malicious sound. 

“Now look. Me, an old, white haired man, and you, in jail for betraying Atlas just like I did.”

“We are not the same!” Winter took a much needed breath. She hadn’t even noticed she hadn’t taken a proper breath since before the encounter with the General.

“You betrayed the city. You manipulated Mantle, and then you gave Watts the ability to doom them all. All I did was stand up to Ironwood when he threatened to kill children, all for some staff.”

“Face the facts, Winter!” Jacques shouted. “We’re both stuck here, whether we like it or not. Any betrayal is the same in Ironwood’s eyes, whether you were doing the right thing or not.”

She sat down, pointedly ignoring Jacques as they sat in silence, hating each other too much to start another conversation.

And then...a sound broke the silence.

Were those...footsteps?

Suddenly, the door to the cell complex opened, and two people rushed inside, closing the door hurriedly behind them. They didn’t seem to notice the room was not empty.

Winter stood, shocked. “Robyn? Qrow?”

Robyn was the first to notice her. “Winter?” She said, equally shocked. “What are you doing here?”

“Well...Did Ironwood send out his broadcast yet?”

Robyn’s face darkened. “Yes. We saw. Is he really planning on holding Mantle hostage?”

Winter nodded. “Yes, but originally he was planning on using Penny's friends to manipulate her. A few hours ago, the Ace Ops arrested Yang, Ren and Jaune, but I let them go.”

“The kids? Are they okay? Where are they now?” Qrow spoke quickly.

“Well...I only let them go after they convinced me to let them. With the exception that they would do recon inside of Salem’s creature.” Seeing Robyn and Qrow’s worried expressions, Winter rushed to tell the rest of her story.

“You see, the Ace Ops and I were ordered to deliver a bomb to the inside of the creature, but the kids were concerned about a friend of theirs who had been abducted, and held prisoner inside.”

“Someone was taken? Who?” Qrow said, worried.

“I’m not sure I remember his name...the boy with the funny eyes?”

“Oscar?”

“Yes, that was it.”

“But what would Salem want with…” Qrow paused, the pieces clicking into place. “Oh, no.”

“The others went in to rescue him, on the condition that we would not wait to drop the bomb.”

“So that was you, then?” Robyn asked. “That explosion we saw was your weapon?”

Winter shook her head. “I don’t know who that was. All I know is we received no word that the kids made it out.”

Qrow sucked in a breath. “So you mean my niece and the others, they could be…”

“Like I said, I don’t know. It is unlikely that they would contact us if they were able to escape. But I didn’t see anyone else out there.”

“I have to find them,” Qrow said, lunging towards the door, only to be stopped by Robyn reminding him,

“Qrow, have you forgotten that we’re being chased by the Atlas military right now? Besides, we need to figure out how to get Winter out of this cell.”

Qrow stopped short, looking down. “Right. You’re right. Hmm…” He walked over to the outer wall of the cell, opening the panel he had seen on Watts cell.

“Okay. If I remember right, something on here opens the cell.”

“Stand back. I grabbed one of the guards' guns,” Robyn said, grabbing the military-style gun from where she left it from the door.

“Oh, does that unlock-” Qrow was interrupted by the sound of a gun firing at the panel as the cell walls melted away.

“Not what I had in mind, but that works too.”

Winter stepped out of the cell, but was stopped by that venomous voice once again. 

“What about me? I could be useful! Are you really going to leave me here?”

Winter turned to face Jacques, hopefully for the last time.

“Yes, Jacques. You’re going to rot in here. I have never needed you or the Schnee name, and I never will.” Winter regretted nothing as she stepped towards the door. Glancing once more over her shoulder, she said “Enjoy prison.”

______

By some miracle, the three made it out of the Atlas military compound, and were now standing outside of Schnee manor.

“How’s your leg?” Winter asked. 

“Uh, it’s fine. I just tripped and twisted my ankle a bit on the way over here,” Robyn explained, seeing Qrow confused. “How could you tell?”

Winter shrugged. “I just could. Maybe it’s a part of being in the military so long, but I noticed.”

“Right. The military.”

Gathering her strength, Winter knocked on the large door to the Schnee house. She was greeted by her sister, standing in the doorway.

“Winter?” Weiss whispered, in utter disbelief.

Winter smiled. “Yeah, it’s me. And I brought friends.” She stepped aside to reveal Qrow and Robyn, as Qrow was promptly tackle-hugged by a bright red burst of petals.

“Uncle Qrow!!”

Ah, yes. That was Ruby, Weiss’s teammate and Qrow’s other niece.

He laughed. “Hey, Kiddo.”

“Hey, Uncle Qrow.” Yang spoke from the doorway, and Winter stood, in disbelief.

“You’re...alive,” She said, too shocked to sound relieved.

“You,” yang grumbled, arming Ember Cecelia. “Come to arrest us again?”

“No! No, nothing like that. Ironwood arrested me too, after he heard you’d escaped. Robyn and your uncle got me out.”

Yang glanced at Robyn, standing next to Winter, and Qrow. “Is that true?”

“Yeah, kid. Winter helped us. Now can we come inside?”

Yang stared at Robyn, taking in the injuries all three had. “I mean, technically it’s not my house, but yeah.”

“Is everyone else okay?” Qrow asked. “I heard Oscar got kidnapped or something. 

Yang looked down, clearly still feeling guilty for what had happened to the boy. “Yeah, he’s okay. He got...banged up pretty badly, but Klein was already here after Nora got hurt, so he got bandaged up. He’s just resting now.”

“Wait, Nora? What happened to her?” Qrow seemed to be increasingly concerned as he heard more and more of what the kids had to go through while he was gone.

“It’s...a long story.” Yang sighed. “We should get you guys bandaged up first. Then we can deal with everything else.”

“She’s right,” Winter said, turning to Robyn. “Didn’t you say it was an explosion that allowed you to escape?”

“Psh, I’m fine.”

“That limp isn’t exactly helping your case.”

“I said I’m fine,” Robyn grumbled. “You want a coffee or something?”

“Well, that’s very nice of you to offer, but this is technically my house.”

“So? Just tell me where the coffee maker is, and I’ll get it. How do you take it?”

Winter sighed. “You’re not gonna give this up, are you?”

Robyn shook her head.

“Fine. Down the hall, third door on your left, there should be a machine in there. No sugar, as much milk as you can fit with it still being coffee.”

“You got it, boss.”

Winter turned to find her sister and Ruby standing with some strange smiles on their faces.

“What is it?”

“She likes you,” Ruby said.

“Wh- What are you talking about?! She just asked if I wanted a coffee!”

“Yeah, and I did the same thing to Ruby back at beacon. We acted like we hated each other back then too.” Weiss smiled at her partner. “I’m telling you, she likes you.”

“I have no idea where you got an idea like that. Excuse me, I think Robyn needs medical attention and she refuses to get it.”

“Oh, so you’re saying you care about her and want to make sure she’s okay?”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about. I barely knew her before all this, and we only escaped barely an hour ago.”

“Denial is the greatest enemy of humankind!” Ruby called as Winter left the room.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about!” Winter shot back.

Though she couldn’t help but wonder. If the way Robyn was acting, checking to see if Winter was okay, asking her how she wanted her coffee, was because she liked Winter, even if she wasn’t aware of it herself…

Did the way Winter was feeling mean she liked Robyn too?

She hadn’t exactly had much time to think about these things while part of the military, but something about talking to her was different.

Most conversation was hard, interacting with people was a hit or miss, and WInter never knew the right thing to say. But talking to Robyn was easy, comfortable, like...a good cup of coffee

There might be impending doom, a giant, immortal enemy to fight, and Winter might not be able to think about any of this right now, but for the first time she thought,

Someday.

**Author's Note:**

> There it is! manifesting Winter safety next episode, and I hope you enjoyed reading this!


End file.
